In the above photo, you’ll see not only the usual fashion ads for Brea Downtown, but information about the “Fast4Families event; Ana Lety Hernandez, one of the people fasting on the first day; a visitor to the site; Dayne Lee, Civic Participation Coordinator for the Korean Resource Center; a big “11 million” representing the estimated number of unauthorized residents currently in the U.S. — and, looming above them all, a neon sign announcing the presence of Rep. Ed Royce, or at least of his office.

This is a serious, polished effort at activism — one that it should be hard for Rep. Ed Royce to ignore. After all — it’s right outside of his office at 210 W. Birch Street, on the lovely (yes I do think it is) Birch Street Promenade.

Of course, when I say “polished,” I’m not necessary referring to every aspect of the police-approved urban campground. Let’s have a look:

Welcome to their humble abode!

Every day this week, you’ll be able to come see (and even be part of) the 24-hour-per-day protest. You’ll find daily events at 11 a.m. and prayer vigils every day at 6 p.m.

Five people are fasting for the full five days. Six others are fasting for one day apiece. The 11 people fasting on a single day represent the 11 million people residing in the U.S. without authorization.

The Camp! Note that the Brea Police may already know about this. Does my Occupy-tested heart proud!

You can also follow them on Twitter and Instagram, both at @occcopico; on Facebook at www.facebook.com/occcopico; and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/occcopico.

(I told you that these guys were organized!)

This may raise the question in your mind: what the heck is “occcopico” — and isn’t that too many “c”s to pronounce?

I can’t help you with the pronunciation, but they can help you contact your member of Congress to support immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship. The number is 888-979-7506. Or, to put it another way:

The sponsoring organizations are a combination of Community Labor and Faith-Based. They include the Korean Resource Center, the Orange County Labor Federation (with volunteers coming specifically from SEIU-USWW — United Service Workers West), and OCCCO — which stands for OC Congregation Community Organizing. And of course they’re focusing on districts where they think that they can make a difference!

(OK, some aspects of the approach, like constructing district maps, still do need some work.)

You have four days left — and the clock is already running on Day 2!

UPDATE, 11/21 8:15 a.m.

My wife and I were lured by three other Democratic Party of Orange County Executive Board members to come visit the site last night to keep people company in the rain. (With it being only a mile or so away from me, my usual “but Irvine is so faaaaaaaar” excuses didn’t work.) So I have some additional pix for you.

It was a dark and stormy night as we traversed the side pathway to Brea’s Birch Street Promenade. OK, obviously, not all that dark. And more drizzly than stormy. But — it was DEFINITELY night!

You may think that this photo of fasting Brea Protesters huddled under a tarp and singing songs to pass the time is the worst-taken and most miserable photo that you’ll see in this story ….

… but no, this one is WAY WORSE. I TOLD you that it was raining! Those are actual angels’ tears!

The Grand Finale/Closing Ceremonies/(I Forget Precisely What Term They Used For It) will take place tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., and as I recall are scheduled to be done by 11 a.m., following by a breakdown of the camp. If you’re near the lovely Birch Street Promenade in Beautiful Downtown Brea, come down and help us stare longingly up at Ed Royce’s boldly lit up office sign, hoping that someone from there might descend to street level and actually listen to people affected by his policies!

P.S. Have you called 888-979-7506 yet?

About Greg Diamond

Prolix worker's rights and government accountability attorney and General Counsel of CATER. His anti-corruption work in Anaheim infuriated the Building Trades and Teamsters in spring 2014, leading them to work with the Democratic Party of Orange County Chair and other co-conspirators (who had long detested the internal oversight his presence provided) to remove him from the position of DPOC North Vice Chair of in violation of party rules and any semblance of due process. He also runs for office sometimes.
Unless otherwise specifically stated, none of his writings prior to that lawless putsch ever spoke for the Democratic Party at the local, county, state, national, or galactic level. He tries to either suppress or openly acknowledge his partisan, issue, ideological, and "good government" biases in most of his writing here. If you have a question about any particular writing, just ask him about it and (unless you are an pseudonymous troll) he will probably answer you at painful length.
He lives in Beautiful Bountiful Brea, but while he may brag about it he generally doesn't blog about it. A family member works as a campaign treasurer for candidates including Wendy Gabriella in AD-73; he doesn't directly profit from that relatively small compensation and it doesn't affect his coverage. He does advise some campaigns informally and (except where noted) without compensation.

As long as birthright citizenship gets eliminated I will support CIR and the absorbing of the current undocumented immigrants in our nation. Else we will have this situation happen again in the next 8-12 years.